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Why Rod Wave Might Be Writing Movie Scripts One Day
Before the age of 21, Rod Wave has become hip-hop’s quintessential rags to riches story. Since his Interscope debut with 2019’s Ghetto Gospel, the St. Petersburg, Florida native has buried the competition with his icy street bangers and frosty melodies. With two Billboard 200 top ten albums within a five-month span, including last April’s No. 2 debut Pray 4 Love, Wave’s climb to rap’s summit has been a sight to see. With a dozen Hot 100 records in his arsenal, most notably his latest hit “Rags2Riches,” Wave’s candor and shrewd ability to tug at listeners’ heartstrings makes him a top candidate for rap’s rookie of the year in 2020 — although he’s lucky to still be here. Wave, born Rodarius Marcell Green, nearly had his life curtailed after being involved in a near-fatal ca...
20 Questions With MK: The Producer Defends Vocal House, ‘All We’re Trying to Do Is Make Something Great’
Mark Kinchen has been under the spell of house music since the late ’80s, when the producer followed his interest in music to the burgeoning electronic scene then happening in his hometown of Detroit. It was this function of being in the right place at the right time, with the right taste, that he witnessed dance world pioneers like Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson forging the electronic genre and where he picked up a love of house music that would fuel his career for the following three decades. MK’s latest release is “2am,” a piano-heavy house heater featuring vocals by Carla Monroe, who also delivered the lyrics on the producer’s still soaring 2018 single “17.” The new single is out on Ultra and MK’s own AREA10 imprint. Since ...
A 79-Year-Old Doing Hip-Hop? ‘The Simpsons’ Is Where Free Speech Battles Age Bias Claims
As the old saying goes, no business is like show business. For one thing, show business is speech business. But what acts by an entertainment producer are legitimately free speech, and what acts are plain ol’ discrimination? That’s not always clear. Just look at the ongoing case of Alf Clausen, the 79-year-old who was fired as Simpsons composer after 27 years of celebrated work on the animated classic. As his lawsuit heads toward an important hearing next week, Clausen looks to undercut Fox’s positioning that this dispute relates to an important First Amendment issue. Clausen is suing Disney and its Fox divisions with the claim that his termination was due to age and disability discrimination. The musician says he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and he o...
Lana Del Rey’s ‘Violet’ Poetry Audiobook Has Arrived
After months of delays, Lana Del Rey’s Violet is blooming. The alternative pop singer released her audiobook of Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass, which features 14 poems read by Del Rey, with music performed by her frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff (Bleachers, Fun). Violet was announced last December ahead of a scheduled January release. However, it was pushed back after the singer’s family was robbed. And then, the pandemic. Hardcover and ebook editions will include over 30 original Del Rey poems and should drop Sept. 29 via Simon & Schuster, with CDs, vinyl, picture discs and bundles landing soon after, on Oct. 2. Matching the album cover art, the book cover features a painting of a lush tree decorated with four citrus fruit. As previously reported, half the proceeds of the col...
Young Thug Gets Tattoo in Honor of Late Dog Ms. Tootie
Young Thug is mourning the loss of his beloved pup Ms. Tootie, and the rapper got some ink to remember his canine pal forever. “I love u mama,” he wrote on Instagram alongside a photo holding his fluffy friend and smiling. He followed up with another photo showing off his new leg tattoo, which features Ms. Tootie’s sweet face with “RIP Ms. Tootie” written beneath it. See it below. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
Blackpink to Release Debut Album This Fall
Get ready, Blinks! Blackpink announced on Monday (July 27) that their highly anticipated debut studio album will be arriving on October 2 via YG Entertainment/Interscope Records. That’s not all. In celebration of the album announcement, the superstar quartet will unveil the second single from the album next month with a surprise featured guest. The song will follow the album’s smash lead single, “How You Like That.” “How You Like That” broke all kinds of records upon its release. The south Korean girl group’s music video for the song earned 86.3 million views on its arrival June 26, enough to set records for most viewed YouTube video in 24 hours, most viewed music video on YouTube in 24 hours, and most viewed YouTube music video in 24 hours by a K-p...
6 Things to Know About Rebekah Harkness, the Muse Behind Taylor Swift’s ‘The Last Great American Dynasty’
Taylor Swift tells the story of “The Last Great American Dynasty” in her Folklore track about one of the wealthiest women in America, Rebekah West Harkness. Billboard found out more information about the 20th-century socialite and how she compares to the Grammy award-winning singer. Harkness acquired an enormous amount of wealth after her second marriage to William Hale Harkness. The St. Louis-born patron of the arts has many more titles to her name than “middle-class divorcée,” which Swift calls her in the first verse. That’s how she was commonly regarded before marrying William Hale Harkness, the heir to the Standard Oil fortune. With Standard Oil being the largest oil refiner in the world as well as the worldR...
Britney Spears Is ‘Demanding Attention’ With Stunning Body Henna
Britney Spears took to Instagram on Monday (July 27) to show off some fun body art. “So I got carried away with henna,” the pop princess captioned a snap in which she’s rocking a bikini, and covered in gorgeous white henna art. The series of photos also features a shot of Spears in a cream-colored, patterned crop top. “I think I’m going for a bohemian look in the second picture …. not sure what my hands on my hips are about,” she wrote. “I guess I’m demanding attention.” See her boho chic looks below. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, shar...
Get the New Zedd-Centric Experience Inside of This Video Game
Earlier in July, Zedd released his first new music of the year, and now that same song is soundtracking a new Zedd-centric experience inside of Minecraft. Released Monday (July 27), the “beat saber” game Beat Craft 2 lets players keep the beat along with the song in order to clear the level. The beats in question belong to “Funny,” the new single from Zedd and vocalist Jasmine Thompson that explores the humor found in the aftermath of a broken relationship. And while the music has a playful tone, it was delivered with sincere intentions. “I believe I finished the song in late February, but it has been difficult to find an appropriate time to release “Funny” given the difficult state the world is in,” Zedd said in a recent Twitt...
Grammy.com Readers Are Split About the Grammys’ New ‘Progressive R&B’ Category Name
Response was about evenly divided between the one positive response and the other two, which were negative or neutral. The Grammys announced on June 10 that they were changing the name of their best urban contemporary album category to best progressive R&B album. Most observers welcomed the change. “Urban” was the buzzword in R&B for a number of years, but many now see the term as dated and perhaps racially insensitive. On June 5, Republic Records announced that it was banning the term. The name change was fair-game for a quickie poll, including this one which turned up in an unexpected place—the Recording Academy’s own site, Grammy.com: “What do you think about the Best Progressive R&B Album category name change?” The tartly-phrased choices: It’s a step in the right...
Joe Jonas & Sophie Turner Welcome Their First Child Together
Congratulations to Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, who have welcomed their first child together! “Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas are delighted to announce the birth of their baby,” the couple said in a statement to Billboard. Acccording to TMZ, the baby girl arrived on July 22, and is named Willa. The couple kept things pretty quiet throughout the Game of Thrones actress’ pregnancy, never offering a statement to confirm they were expecting, though she was spotted out and about with a baby bump. On Friday, after Taylor Swift dropped her new album Folklore, fans speculated that she may have sent the couple a baby gift. On the song “Invisible String,” she sings, “Cold was the steel of my axe to grind/ For the boys who broke my heart/ Now I send the...
Jason Derulo Performs ‘Savage Love’ Poolside for ‘Good Morning America’ Live Music Video: Watch
Jason Derulo cooled off by the pool during his steamy “Savage Love” performance Saturday (July 25) as part of Good Morning America‘s Summer Concert Series. The song behind the dance that took TikTok by storm is a strong contender for a top summertime anthem by the way a half-shirtless Derulo dressed up the visual, with guys and girls in swimsuits dancing until the sun comes down. His “Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)” collaboration with New Zealand producer Jawsh 685 (real name Joshua Stylah) already topped the Official U.K. Singles chart (dated July 10). “Josh had this sound that was going crazy,” Derulo said about Jawsh 685 during a GMA interview. “It was on TikTok, right? But how do we take him and formulate him i...
